Lightning-grounding device



E. H. PETERSEN. LIGHTNING snounnme DEVICE.

APPLICATION FILED OCT. 3,19I9- Patented Dec. 5, 1922..

ZI msTZPe r Patented Dec. 5, 1922.

UNITED STATES 1,437,613 PATENT OFFICE.

ERNEST H. PETERSEN, OF ST. PAUL, MINNESOTA, ASSIGNOR OF ONE-HALF TOEMIL' C. ANDERSON, OF ST. PAUL, MINNESOTA.

LIGHTNING-GROUNDING DEVICE.

Application filed October 3, 1919. Serial 1T0. 328,117.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, ERNEST H. PETERSEN, a citizen of the United States,residin at St. Paul, in the county of Ramsey and tate of Minnesota, haveinvented a new and useful Improvement in Lightning-Grounding Devices, ofwhich the following is a specification.

It often happens during electric storms in the country that cattle arekilled by lightning which is attracted to the strands of wire fences andcarried along by the same to a point where cattle are grouped together.It seems that lightning is easily attracted to cattle through which itis inclined to ground itself.

My invention consists in a grounding device which is of a peculiar andvery simple construction, thus allowing it to be made economically andnot making its use prohibitive on account of the cost of the same. Inthe use of a device of this nature it is obvious that quite a number ofthese devices are necessary to ground an ordinary fence at intervalsclose enough together to be effective and if the cost of the device istoo great it would prohibit the general use of the same.

An-important feature of my invention is in securing the end of thegrounding wire, which is adapted to be inserted into the ground farenough to reach the moist earth, at or near the point of the stake,while the body portion of the driving stake is entirely free from thegrounding wire. This construction allows the use of a simple,inexpensive driving stake, which is only necessary for the purpose ofeasily inserting the grounding wire the proper depth into the groundwithout making it necessary to dig a hole to bury the grounding end ofthe wire. The ground wire is securely fastened near the point of thedriving stake against disengagement therefrom to insure the same beingdrawn into the ground by the stake.

A further object of this invention is in allowing the use of a twistedcable conductor formed of copperwire or other suitable material which isinclined to carry or attract the lightning and carry it into the moistground, independently of the metallic connection of the driving stake,thereby giving a most eflicient grounding device.

In the drawings forming part of this specification Figure 1 is a sideview of a section of a fence, illustrating my device attached thereto.

Figure 2 is a detail of one of the driving stakes.

Figure 3 is a detail of the lower end'of the driving stake, illustratingthe grounding wire attached thereto.

Figure 4 illustrates an alternative form of driving stake with a splitlower end which is ada ted to receive the strands of the groun wire.

Figure 5 is a detail of the stake illustrated in Figure 4 after thedriving end has been compressed into a point, illustrating the strandssqueezed between the split ends of the same.

Figure 6 illustrates aside view of the stake illustrated in Figures 4and 5, illustrating a. grounding cable attached thereto.

In the drawing, the grounding device A is of a very simple, inexpensiveconstruction, being provided with a grounding cable 2 formed of twistedstrands of copperwire or of any other material which is adapted toeasily conduct lightning current.

One end 3 of the grounding cable or wire 2 is rigidly secured to thepoint 4 of the driving stake 5 so as to hold the end 3 againstdisengagement from the stake 5. A simple, inexpensive method of securingthe end 3 is illustrated in Figures 2 and 3. The point 4 is formed onthe stake rod 5 by flattening the same in an ordinary manner and bymeans of the hole'6, the end 3 of the cable 2 can be inserted in thestake and then the stake compressed in a suitable manner so as tosqueeze the strands tightly in the hole 6 of the pointed end 4, asillustrated in Figure 3. In this manner the end 3 is is securelyattached against disengagement from the pointed end 4 of the stake 5.

.The stake 5 is formed of any suitable material, it being preferably asteel rod of suitable diameter and its pointed end being adapted toallow it to be easily driven into the ground, drawing the end 3 deepenough into into the earth so as to always be in contact with themoisture in the same. The driving stake 5 allows the conducting cable 2to be quickly inserted into the ground with a small amount of labor andthe end of the cable projecting out of the ground is twisted about thestrands 7 of the wire fence, to which the device A is being attached, ina suitable manner so that the cable 2 is held in strands of the cable,as illustrated in Figures 5 and 6. At the same time the ends 9 areformed into point to form a suitable driving end on the stake 8. Inboththis and the construction illustrated in Figure 3, the strands of theconducting cable 2 are tightly pinched and held in the pointed end ofthestakes against disens'a ement Q therefrom so that they can be drivehinto the ground to draw one end of the conducting cable 2 into the moistearth and thereby form an efficient lightning groundingdevice. i V t Itwill be readily seen that with the simple grounding device A, a fencecan be equipped with a sufficient number of devices to insure groundingthe strands '7 of the same so that in case of an electrical storm therewould be practically little or no danger to the cattle which may comeclose to the fence unless they were at the point of attraction. It isvery desirabl in this device to have the body portion of the stakeentirely free and independent of contact with the conducting cable 9;,except at the sharp end 4 of the stake, to allow the cable 2 to be mosteiiicient in grounding the lightning current. This peculiar connectionof the cable 2 with the stake insures the grounding of the lightningwithout being diffused at the point of contact with the ground byconnection withthe driving stake and also allowing the use of a goodsized conducting cable made up of a series'o'f twisted strands, such as2, which in practice has proved to be the most satisfactory lightningrod or conducting cable. It is obvlous that the device A can be removedfrom the ground and strands 7 of the fence so as to be used in any otherplace, if it is desired.

The cable 2 can be attached in any suitable manner to the pointed end ofthe driving stake but it is an essential feature that it be connected asnear to the point as practical so as to carry the end 3 of the'cabledeep enough into the ground to reach'the moisture in the same and it isalso important that the body portion otthe driving stake be independentandfree of the grounding cable. I

In accordance with the patent statutes 1 have described the principlesof operation of by invention, together with the apparatus which I nowconsider to represent the best embodiment thereof, but I desire tohave'it understood that theconstruction shown is only.'illustrativeandthat the invention can be carried out by other means andapplied to uses other than those above set forth within the scope of thefollowing claims:

1. A lightning grounding-device, comarisin a drivin stake havin abifurcated end a, conducting cable, a piercing point formed on saidbifurcated end by compressing said bifurcated end about one end of saidconducting cable and bringing, the ends thereof together to securelyattach one end of said cable to said stake only at the point thereof forthe purposes specified.

2. A lightning grounding device comprising a driving stalre vhaving apair of normally spaced pointed arms at the end thereof, said arms beingadapted to be forced together to form a driving point having an aperturebetween the same at the juncture thereof, and a. conductor adapted to beclamped between said arms Within said aperture.

ERNEST HI Partners.

